Trump’s Tax Plan is a Reckoning for Republican Deficit Hawks

Labor News

President Trump has pointed to the growth linked to tax cuts passed by previous presidents when promoting his plan. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

Reprinted from The New York Times by Alan Rappeport on April 26, 2017.

“As President Trump’s top economic advisers faced a barrage of questions on Wednesday about the tax plan they had just unfurled, there was one that they struggled most to answer: how to keep the ‘massive tax cuts’ they proposed from ballooning the federal deficit,” writes Alan Rappeport in The New York Times.

“The White House insists that economic growth will cover the cost, which could be as high as $7 trillion over a decade. But the question will dog Republicans and could fracture their party as they face the prospect of endorsing a plan that many economists and budget analysts warn will increase the deficit. After years of fiscal hawkishness, conservatives now face a moment of truth about whether they truly believe America’s economy is drowning in debt.

“Some skeptics are already ringing alarm bells, fearing that Republicans will sign on to what critics see as a dangerous plan composed by a president who called himself the King of Debt. …

AFL-CIO: Trump’s Tax Plan is a Massive Giveaway to the Wealthy Few

Reprinted from the AFL-CIO’s blog Now on April 24, 2017. It is unattributed.

Reports suggest that Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%. That proposal could have serious long-term consequences for the United States—estimates show this will reduce revenue by $2.4 trillion in the first decade—and it amounts to little more than a massive giveaway to big corporations. Trump proposed the same tax cut for big corporations during the presidential campaign, as part of a larger tax plan that also included tax giveaways for the wealthy at a total cost of $7.2 trillion. …

Big corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share of taxes: Our rigged and broken tax system lets big corporations and the wealthy avoid paying their fair share of taxes, sticking the rest of us with the tab. Any tax reform proposal must not cut taxes for big corporations or the wealthy. On the contrary, tax reform should restore taxes on the wealthiest estates and tax the income of investors as much as the income of working people. …